Life

Ilya Vladimirovich Ganaba (Russian: Илья Владимирович Ганаба) was born on August 1, 1962 in Leningrad, USSR. His father Vladimir Ganaba was an archdeacon at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Podolsk in the Moscow Oblast. Later, his older brother, Alexander Ganaba, was an archpriest and dean at the same cathedral.

In 1971, Ilya moved with his parents to Penza, in the Penza Oblast. There he attended school, graduating from high school in 1979. He also served as an episcopal subdeacon at the altar and sang in the choir of the Dormition Cathedral in Penza.

On October 7, 2000, Fr. Eliseus was appointed the Representative of Patriarchate of Moscow at the Patriarchate of Antioch in Damascus, Syria. On March 12, 2002, Fr. Eliseus was appointed Head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.